Share this

The best and most pertinent political book I've read this year is David Kennedy's Freedom from Fear. It's a history of the United States during the Depression and the Second World War. It paints as powerful and compelling picture as can be found of the scale and causes of the Depression and it describes in page-turning terms what FDR called the "bold, persistent experimentation" of the New Deal. We should all be re-learning this history now and applying it to our current moment of crisis and challenge.

President Bush is leaving the highest pressure job on the planet. He'll need to decompress and look inward to decide how best to shape his post-Presidency into an enterprise that will be of service to humankind. To that end, I endorse works by Shakespeare, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky--all of whom were superb psychologists in addition to being superb and timeless writers. They had their finger on the pulse of the human condition and always had something to say on how best to address life's consequential moments.

As for the President-elect, his reading list is going to be huge by virtue of his job alone. But Arena Imperator Barbash's call for even more reading is well-timed and well-taken. My Top Ten picks are below:

1. Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. An astonishingly prescient and powerful examination of democracy by one who appreciated its strengths while remaining tremendously ambivalent about it. While it is always risky to try to fit Tocqueville in the camp of a particular political philosophy, there can be little doubt that there was much about Tocqueville's writings that appeal mightily to small-government advocates like me. This combination of expert and enduring analysis of the American sociopsychological condition and check against the President-elect's big government instincts is a must-read, as it has always been.

2. F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. Another powerful work that will be helpful in reminding the President-elect that "a government big enough to give you what you want is also big enough to take it all away."

3. Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War. The original chronicler of realpolitik, Thucydides will serve to remind the President-elect that for all of the talk of Hope and Change, the history of humanity is generally littered with tragedy and calamity. It makes for tough and wrenching reading, but it's necessary reading nonetheless. The Strassler edition is perhaps the best one out there (it tracks the classic Crawley translation and has maps), but for the sake of enjoying some variety in the translation, perhaps the President-elect would wish to avail himself of the acclaimed Hobbes translation as well.

4. Herodotus's The Histories. Another Strassler rendition of a classic. One of the salient virtues of the ancient historians is that they save us moderns some valuable time in applying the lessons of history to present circumstances by reminding us, through their writings, that there really isn't anything new under the sun. What seem to us knotty problems of consequence with historical meaning have, in fact, been addressed by others. One such other was Herodotus. He should most certainly be on the President-elect's reading list. He is on mine.

5. Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful. There are ever so many claims that the President-elect is a Burkean figure--claims that draw their inspiration from the time the President-elect spent teaching law at the University of Chicago, which is famed for having more conservative and libertarian scholars than other comparable universities (this, of course, is sort of like boasting that a given baseball team has won more World Series championships over the past century than have my beloved Cubs, but let's put that to the side for the moment). If this is genuinely the case, let the President-elect demonstrate his Burkean credentials by making it a point to curl up with the Great and Good Irishman for a good read and think.

7. Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vols. 1, 2 and 3 . No, I am not a believer in American declinism; quite the contrary, I believe that our best days are ahead of us. That doesn't keep Gibbon from being an indispensable part of any library of note. His timeless observation on the fall of the Athenians--"In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again."--is one we ought to take great care in remembering.

8. Anything by Milton Friedman. Just peruse this site to understand why Friedman has so much to teach us--the blather of some of his irresponsible critics notwithstanding.

9. The Riverside Milton. Speaking of personages Miltonesque, we are celebrating the 400th birthday of the great John Milton and while Paradise Lost is his most famous work, the reading I especially recommend to the President-elect is Milton's celebrated defense of free speech in the Areopagitica. Milton's argument in the Areopagitica is the President-elect should keep in mind the next time someone speaks of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, not to mention augmenting the current campaign finance "reform" regime so unfortunately thrust upon us by John McCain, Russ Feingold and their many enablers.

10. Finally, because Amity Shlaes was much too modest to do so, let me enthusiastically recommend her book, which should be must-reading for those setting economic policy in the new Administration, the new Congress, the Federal Reserve and just about anywhere and everywhere else. (Full disclosure: Amity Shlaes is a fellow Lab Schools alum, and in e-mails to me, she has been known to be gracious, charming and deeply supportive of my own paltry efforts at writing. Perhaps this has played the Mother of All Jedi Mind Tricks on me and is responsible for my recommendation of her book but I dare say that even if Amity was the most mean-spirited, churlish, arrogant, insulting, toxic soul to ever walk the face of the Earth--in short, if she possessed the exact opposite personality she actually possesses--I would still recommend her book. It's that good.)

In defense of people plugging their own books: In addition to inviting Arena contributors to recommend books written by others, I invited them to mention their own books, so don't take it out on them. You'll see a list of some of their work here. Some suggestions from Politico staffers can be found here. We welcome your suggestions as well.

The best political book I have read this year is a short, challenging, but rewarding book I picked up during the campaign--Speed & Politics by Paul Virilio. If nothing else, its focus on speed as an essential element in politics helps to explain one factor in Obama campaign's success in the face of a tremendous Republican attack machine. One quote sticks out: "Everything in this new warfare becomes a question of time won by man over the fatal projectiles toward which his path throws him."

As anyone can see, speed is essential to the Obama post-election strategy--as in his speed in forming his cabinet. But speed can also be ominous, as in Blitzkrieg. Food for thought as we rehash what happened or didn't happen in Iraq and wonder what will happen under an Obama administration. As for my book, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History, I can say that it does provide a way to understand the social, political and cultural struggles out of which Obama emerges. Come to think of it, maybe he should read it now and recall how tricky the road ahead has been for other Black elected officials.

Amar Bhide's "Venturesome Economy" -- annihilatingly good since it is so much at odds with the current, brows-knitted, anxious attitude toward the economic future. Bhide points out that multiple players move the economy forward. To him consumers are important, too. But his consumer is not the dullard multiplier so much discussed in all the infrastructure spending projects. The Bhide consumer is the one who takes the risk of deciding at designer handbag is worth the money -- along with the designer himself of course. A better explanation of the Kate Spade phenomenon and many other parts of our creating/shopping culture will be hard to find. Bhide is the undiscovered Malcolm Gladwell.

Burt Folsom's "New Deal or Raw Deal." You've never seen a vengeful audit or tax prosecution until you read what the New Dealers did to Moses Annenberg in this book. Folsom spends considerable energy analyzing Roosevelt's character, and finds it wanting.

In the abebooks department, I recommend any book Ray Moley, a New Deal who turned skeptic and became therefore the very first Neocon. Sometimes I call him a preocon. Anyhow his books cheer me up ever year: "27 Masters of Politics" is a great one for the Politico crowd. Writing about the exhaustion of a multiterm president, Roosevelt, Moley noted, that "he closed, one by one the windows of his mind. Perhaps that is the disease that haunts the white house." This description seems to me to fit so well for so many multi-termers.

My brother, John Zogby's new book "The Way We Will Be - The Transformation of the American Dream" (Random House,2008) is a wonderful book to read. Using hard data derived from many years of his "culture polls" he identifies new trends in our culture and the distinct value orientations of diverse demographic groups. In many ways his "First Globals" help us understand some of what was behind the "Obama Phenomenon".

The best political book for me this year was James Rosen’s, “The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate”. James spent over a decade researching and conducting first hand interviews with the principal figures surrounding this fascinating and troubling chapter in our Nations history. The book is very well written and gives the reader a complete and thorough understanding of Watergate through the eyes and actions of one of its most central figures, John Mitchell.

Political junkies will love this book because it is a case study of power, politics, achievement, and failure. President Obama will have enough forced reading to do for sure. But, should he find time to kick back, then I think he would enjoy Edmund Morris’, “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt”. This book is an inspirational book about an inspirational man. Teddy Roosevelt never let the grass grow under his feet and always managed to seize the day. No matter what he did, he did it with a 110 per cent of his energy and talent. The book shows what is possible if you put your mind and your hands to it. It is a feel good book about a guy who loved his country and constantly challenged himself and others for the common good. As far as President Bush is concerned, I believe he should avoid political books and immerse himself in topics that he neglected but loved while governing. I suggest then, Roger Khan’s, “The Boys of Summer”. Knowing the President’s love of baseball, this book tells the story of the most exciting and historical times in early baseball history. It recounts the trials, tribulations and great achievements of young men who learned the game in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and then went on to play for the most famous team of the day the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image by David Greenberg and Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. The first describes how a president becomes a variable image to different people. The latter is an alarming and depressing account of how the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan fumbled through the Afghan war and ignored or contributed to the Islamic terrorism which the world confronts to this very day in Mumbai and elsewhere. A good follow-up book would be The Commission by Phil Shenon regarding the politics and work of the 9/11 Commission.

Aside from my book, Campaign Boot Camp (www.pelosibootcamp.com), and Speaker Pelosi's book, Know Your Power, the best political book I read this year was John Grisham's The Appeal , a wake-up call to anyone who may ever need to enter a courtroom. A grim tale of political and legal corruption (lost your case? buy an election and win your own judge!), it is the best argument yet for judicial campaign finance reform. For both the incoming and outgoing President of the United States, Origen & Golan's Goodnight Bush

How about something political from the right side of the brain? For President-elect Obama: Anyone who has read his first book knows that he's self-aware, nurtures his inner life, and struggles with human vice. He should read Robert Pinsky's translation of Dante's Inferno. Now is a good time for him to understand better qualities of suffering. For President Bush, he should read Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (especially the elegy "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed") to see how bombast can evolve into self-reflection, affection, and empathy.

It seems that it might be more important than usual for the president-elect and the people to understand the great depression and the damage done by the Hoover/FDR "remedies," not only in prolonging the depression but in taking our liberties, creating the environment that now exists for political rent-seeking and special interest pleading, and dividing Americans against one another. Thus I would recommend three books, Amity Shlaes's "The Forgotten Man," Jim Powell's "FDR's Folly" and Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism."

President-elect Obama, we're told, is already reading a book on FDR's Hundred Days; but for anyone who isn't, you couldn't possibly do better than to pick up a copy of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s, The Coming of the New Deal, the second volume in his three-part Age of Roosevelt. I'm very much looking forward to Adam Cohen's book on the same subject, on shelves (fortuitously enough) in January, and I enjoyed Jonathan Alter's recent treatment, but it's an uphill climb for any author to meet Schlesinger on the summit.

The ease and authority of Schlesinger's prose, the depth and range of his understanding, and his clear-eyed assessment of FDR's often improvisational, sometimes ineffective, but always innovative "first" New Deal make this book a classic of political literature, and an inevitable starting point for any future book on Roosevelt. (I say this as the author of a future book on Roosevelt -- namely, his losing fight to pack the Supreme Court. If Politico runs this feature a year from now, I'll follow some of the others here in brazenly plugging my own work.)

My recommended reading for President-elect Obama would be his mail. Once in office, he will be surrounded by many sycophants whose view of America goes no farther than a bar stool in Washington or a treadmill at the local gym. These aides actually think people in Georgetown have something meaningful to say.

Obama, if he is to be successful, must reach out to “Real America” and the best way to do this is by simply reading letters sent to him. Obama’s mail will be divided into several categories including “Pro,” “Con” and people in real pain, needing help. He should take one or two from each pile, every week, and not only read what his fellow Americans are thinking, but write personal answers to each. Part of the Reagan legacy includes the thousands of letters he wrote to his fellow citizens---not just dashed off notes but long letters, defending his philosophy, congratulating Boy Scouts and 4-H winners, offering solace and comfort to people telling him of their plight.

If Obama wants to lead the American people, then he needs to understand what is on their minds and in their hearts and you don’t get this from a focus group. Obama can get this perspective from reading their mail.

The five best books I have read in the past year are The Thirteen American Arguments by Howard Fineman, The Judge by Bill Clark, A Time to Speak by Robert Bork, The Solzhenitsyn Reader, edited by Edward Erickson and Daniel Mahoney and Funding Fathers by Ron Robinson. I was able to read these in the late evening even as I sloughed through finishing the writing of Rendezvous with Destiny, about the 1980 Reagan campaign. I am happy to report that I have completed the work.

Briefly, the center-right Leave Us Alone coalition is made up of voters who, on the issue that moves their vote, what they want from the government is to be left alone: taxpayers, businessmen, property owners, gun owners, home schoolers, and people of faith who wish to be left alone to practice their faith and raise their children.

The other team is the Takings Coalition: Trial lawyers, big city political machines, unions, government workers unions and the two wings of the dependency movement -- those locked into welfare and those who manage the dependency of others making sure they don't get jobs and become Republicans. Also, the coercive utopians or the nanny staters who want to use the power of the state to push the rest of us around to drive tiny cars, toilets too small to flush properly and higher priced energy that doesn't really exist but would be cool, sort of.

My other favorite read this year was the Radical and the Republican by James Oakes, which examines the political and personal relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and the rise of "antislavery politics." It's an important reminder about the thin line between pragmatism and principle in American politics and demonstrates how Lincoln brilliantly balanced his own burning desire to end slavery with the pragmatic means to achieve that goal. As a Douglass acolyte, President-elect Obama would probably find much in Oakes book that would be helpful to him as prepares to take office.

Bob Woodward’s “The War Within”. Amazing piece of reporting on Iraq and the surge. Boggled my mind to see how much access Woodward was given and how much highly classified information he had—including decision memos to and from the President, for heaven’s sake! Fascinating to read how the President played the players against each other to reach his goal of putting the surge in place. It would be a good read for the President-Elect as an example of how much internecine warfare occurs in a White House, and given the strong willed personalities in his, the Obama White House will not be an exception.

I would, of course, plug my own book, "Reclaiming Conservatism," but since that would be tacky, I won't mention it. I will, however, gladly mention a few that are really either terrific reads or very important -- sometimes both.

I've been greatly concerned about the gradual (and, during the past eight years, not so gradual) erosion of the constitutional separation of powers. Two very good books in that area are Charlie Savage's "Takeover" (does it count if it was a re-read?) and Gene Healy's "The Cult of the Presidency"

Chris Eisgruber's book on Supreme Court appointments, "The Next Justice," is very well done. And on a more sociological note, one of the most important -- and disturbing -- books published recently was Bill Bishop's "The Big Sort."

The best political book I read this year (even better than my own “The Politics of Freedom”) was by my colleague Gene Healy: “The Cult of the Presidency.” Gene criticizes the growing power of the presidency over the past century, but more importantly he bemoans both historians and voters who expect too much from the president, who view the president not just as the chief executive but as a “national guardian, shaman, and supreme warlord.” This is a book of history, not just another anti-Bush book. And here’s a cynical prediction: Along about January 20, this book will become less interesting to Democrats and more interesting to Republicans, who may start to remember their old skepticism about executive power.

I fear I'll get into allot of trouble recommending books, since being head of the book publishers trade association, I recommend ALL books and remind everyone books are the best gifts anyone can give! Nevertheless, I will crawl out on the edge and recommend four books for Obama and four for Bush, hoping that I don't join the ranks of the unemployed by doing so!

I suggest a gift box: 1) Jane Mayer's The Dark Side: a calm but chilling examination of the Bush administration's descent into conduct worthy of an imperial monarchy (torture, unlawful detention, unauthorized wiretapping, etc); 2) Dexter Filkins' The Forever War: a gripping memoir of Filkins' experiences reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a sober reflection on the limits of American power; 3) Robert Dallek's Nixon and Kissinger, a smoothly written account that shed new light on two of the most-studied men in recent American political history.

For Bush in retirement, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Stoic philosophy will come in handy if he decides to reflect on the damage his two terms produced.

For Obama, a copy of Reginald Rose's play Twelve Angry Men. Why? Because this well-worn play shows a diverse set of Americans gradually learning to reject the "obvious"--but wrong--verdict and slowly overcoming their own character flaws and personal prejudices in order to get at the truth. Not a bad metaphor for his task as President. And if he is serious about doing something positive in the Middle East, it would be false modesty for me not to recommend the concluding chapter of Mearsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which will help him understand that being "pro-Israel" today means encouraging a more normal relationship with the Jewish state, and doing whatever it takes to achieve a two-state solution before it's too late.

No question, the best political book I've read in the past year is "Nixonland," by Rick Perlstein, just a brilliant history how America went from a 60-40 LBJ landslide to a 60-40 Nixon victory eight years later. Anyone who wants to understand the politics of resentment and the appeal of Sarah Palin needs to start here.

Despite what I think of the man's performance in office, eight years of service entitles President Bush to not have to think about politics for a while, though I do think he should read Angler at some point to find out what happened. Instead, since he's a sports fan, I'll recommend "Going Deep," a compilation of twenty profiles done over the years by Sports Illustrated's magnificent Gary Smith, a four-time National Magazine Award winner. Whether it's a star like Mike Tyson or Andre Agassi or unknowns like Crow Indian basketball player Jonathan Takes Enemy and tragic Yankees prospect John Malangone, Smith brings extraordinary insight and an eye for detail into everyone he covers.

The President-elect assigned me thousands of pages of reading as his law student, but I'll only assign one book in return: David Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible In America, an indictment of how expensive it is to be poor in America. I know President-elect's commitment to alleviating poverty is real, but those who are suffering have no powerful lobby to demand their needs be addressed. The President can make sure that they are not forgotten, and can urge Congress and all of us to commit to their aid. As Shipler writes, "'To appraise a society, examine its ability to be self-correcting. When grievous wrongs are done or endemic suffering exposed, when injustice is discovered or opportunity denied, watch the institutions of government and business and charity. Their response is an index of a nation's health and of a people's strength.''

I recommend as a perfect holiday present my own new book with Christopher S. Yoo called "The Unitary Executive: Presidential Power from Washington to Bush" (Yale University Press 2008). It offers a succinct history of presidential claims of power from 1789 to the present and evaluates which claims are plausible based on past practice and which are not. It is in effect a history of the presidency, and a guide to the benefits and the limits on presidential power.

The discerning reader will of course want to check out my latest book "The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told," where they can find out about the woman who brought down an entire cabinet or the presidential candidate who overcame a potentially career-ending sex scandal through the rarely adopted strategy of telling the truth.

One of my favorites this year was "Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation" by Allen Guelzo. Lots to be learned from the story of an inexperienced president trying to come to grips with the one of the most difficult issues of all time. Also "Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution" by Mark Puls. Largely forgotten by American history, Adams was the Marx/Lenin of our Revolution, and to understand why we became a country people need to know his story.

Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded" is a must-read and needed wake up call. By tackling two separate yet concurrent and related crises - the global climate crisis and the American, post-9/11 crisis in confidence, focus and purpose - Friedman offers a way forward.

Melvyn Leffler, "For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War." This book shows the enormous difference that individual leaders can make in changing, or failing to change, the "big" forces in international relations. The case studies would prove enormously useful to President Elect Obama and his advisors as they begin their interaction with the rest of the world.

Nancy Kirk (guest)
writer , NY:

I recommend three books: Drew Gilpin Faust's book, This Republic of Suffering, which lays out the costs to the nation of the Civil War. As you suffer the consequences of the war with our forebears, you are forced to consider whether war itself is ever just. Strobe Talbott's The Great Experiment: the story of ancient empires, modern states and the quest for a global nation tells the essential story of the conflicts between culture and law. A sentence from the book illustrates the superb writing: "...like Machiavelli and Kissinger--believe statecraft requires not the imagination of poets but the cunning of foxes in the service of lions in an age of wolves--and never more than when all these beasts are, as is their habit, at one another's throats." Katherine Swartz's Reinsuring Health explains how the country which produces the best health care fell into delivering it in the worst way, and offers a creative solution to the problem. George Bush might want to read all of them, but I recommend that he stick to P.G. Wodehouse for a while.

Stefan Saal (guest)
sculptor , NH:

"After full experience of the insufficiency of the existing federal government, you are invited to deliberate upon a New Constitution for the United States of America." That's the opening line of Federalist Paper No. 1 by Alexander Hamilton (1788). They say the best ones are numbers 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 23, 37, 39, 47, 49, 51, 62, 70, 78, 84, and 85. You can read them in full on line for free at Google Books. For bonus points: try re-reading de Tocqueville.

I hosted a nonpartisan book study in our home during the campaign and we read one book by McCain and one book by Obama in an attempt to get to know the candidates a bit better. We read "Faith of My Fathers" by McCain and "Dreams From My Father" by Obama. Though neither book was extremely well written, they gave a more personal look at each man and where they came from, and for that reason I would recommend them both. However, my most enlightening political book this year is one I just finished called "Crazy for God" by Frank Schaeffer! It chronicles his life growing up in an Evangelical Christian ministry in Switzerland, and how eventually he became a "founding member" of the Evangelical movement in American in the 1980s and how he as since fled that movement, seeing what an ugly political machine it has become. It resounded with feelings I had all during this campaign as I watched James Dobson and others of the Right Wing Evangelical Movement turn ugly, hateful and very un-Christ-like in an attempt to push a political agenda. I consider it a "must read" for anyone interested in why Palin became their "shining star" during this election and why they were willing to turn their back on many of their previously held teachings in order to get her (McCain was apparently just a necessary "evil" in order to put Palin at the forefront!) elected.

Karl Knapstein (guest)
service tech , CO:

Global Conspiracy by David Icke. Obama should read this and then look at the people around him. Bush reads Books ???

Jim Dolbow (guest)
Writer , VA:

I heartily recommend former Congressman John Hostettler's Nothing for the Nation: Who Got What Out of Iraq. Astute politico readers know that Hostettler was one of six GOP House members who had the courage and wisdom to vote against going to war in Iraq in October 2002. Find out how John came to the conclusion that Iraq did not have WMD while reading the same intelligence as Bush, Clinton, Kerry, Edwards etc... Nothing for the Nation is an outstanding primer on how not to go to war.

Elizabeth Stassinos (guest)
Assoc. Prof. Criminal Justice , MA:

For Bush, and Condi Rice as well, it may help to feel the common touch and empathy of Tolstoy's short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." There's some mercy at the end of that book within the family. And in the hesitation of Ilyich's career we see also the political two-step of Bush's attempt to triumph over his naysayers by lining up with neocons, so similar to the point where Ilyich feels most ignored and ego-bruised, passed over for promotions and family praise, hungry for power.
Books are really a kind of medicine. So diagnosis is repressed despair and knowledge-poor ambition that grows horrible heads and talons if not informed by the marginalized person's experience or advice. Tolstoy's peasants are happy, they love each other and bake delicious bread. War destroys their children and viciousness destroys their souls. A powerful and even scary cautionary tale for any politician, it says "love thy neighbor, there will be nothing left of you but this" in the simplest possible way.

Jeffrey Minch (guest)
President, CEO public company , TX:

Everybody is fascinated by Ronald Reagan --- the Democrats, the Republicans, everybody. In my lifetime, he has gone from being an amiable dunce to being a Mt Rushmore figure. But nobody seems to be able to describe how and why?
Read the Reagan Diaries edited by Douglas Brinkley. It is an edited version of his daily diaries in all of their elegant simplicity, personality and human warmth. It is fascinating to read this great man's thoughts written contemporaneously with events whose cumulative impact shaped his Presidency and to see how the normal challenges of living (health, familial love, mortality, uncertainty) impacted the great thing with which he was confronted.
It is imcomprehensible to see how hard Reagan worked which is particularly illuminating given his then public perception as a guy who spent a lot of time napping.
It is easy to see how Reagan accomplished so many things when you see how hard he worked and how focused his efforts truly were.

Linda Conley (guest)
Reader/Home Body , OR:

Ah, yes my favorite political books of the past year. I recommend for President Bush a bit of political philosophy to engage him in his retirement days: Russell Kirk's, The Conservative Mind, From Burke to Eliot. And for President-elect Obama, two immediately come to mind as I envision his radical New economic and environmental Deal. Of course, I second Grover Norquist's book , Leave Us Alone ... and for the environmental side of the equation, might I suggest an altogether novel reading not readily discussed among the learned circles by Roy Spencer entitled, infamously, Global Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies That Hurt the Poor.

Edward Stroligo (guest)
Writer , NY:

If you take "best" as meaning "having the biggest impact," there is no other choice but the Obama books.

More POLITICO Arena

About the Arena

The Arena is a cross-party, cross-discipline forum for intelligent and lively conversation about political and policy issues. Contributors have been selected by POLITICO staff and editors. David Mark, Arena's moderator, is a Senior Editor at POLITICO. Each morning, POLITICO sends a question based on that day's news to all contributors.